Community Spirit

Monza of Historic Manassas will be collecting gently used coats to donate to SERVE of Manassas, Va. in exchange for a $25 Monza or Carmello’s gift card and free hot chocolate and coffee on Fridays and Saturdays in January at Monza at 9405 Battle Street in Old Town Manassas, Va. For more information, go to www.eatmonza.com.

“Winter is here, and we’re all pulling out our warm coats, many of us have more than one, while the neediest of our community go without a proper coat for the coldest of days,” said Alice Pires, owner of Carmellos and Monza in Historic Manassas, Va. “Help us support SERVE by dropping off a coat, and warm up with a free hot cocoa and gift card,” said Pires.

For Veteran’s Day, LearningRx of DC Metro Area is offering 11 percent off of their brain training programs for military families Nov. 11 through Nov. 30, located at six, local centers, Chantilly, Va., Fairfax, Va., Leesburg, Va., Reston, Va., Vienna, Va. and North Potomac, Md. For each military child they train, LearningRx will also donate $111 to SemperMax, a program to enhance the morale and welfare of wounded veterans and their families. LearningRx programs have been helping traumatic-brain-injured military veterans, like U.S. Army Capt. Patrick Horan (Ret.) of McLean, Va., recover their speech and memory skills, and LearningRx is now extending brain training to military families that are looking to make learning easier or for those who struggle with learning disabilities, ADHD or autism. For more information, go to www.learningrx.com.

Design Army X Karla Colletto to debut their swimwear collection - Swim At Your Own Risk - on Friday, August 22 from 7-10 p.m. at Capitol Skyline Hotel

On the heels of judging the global 61st Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity in France as one of two US judges in the Design category, Pum Lefebure, co-founder and Chief Creative Officer of Design Army, just released her first swimwear collection, Swim At Your Own Risk, in collaboration with Karla Colletto. A capsule collection for Colletto’s Cruise 2015 line and Lefebure’s first venture into fashion design, the five-piece graphic swimsuits and beachwear debuted at the Miami Swim Show on July 19th.

Occasionally Cake of Alexandria, Va. and Mount Vernon, Va. is celebrating its five-year anniversary on Sun., July 20 and handing out one free cupcake per person to all their patrons with no purchase necessary at their Old Town Alexandria shop at 207 King Street and Mount Vernon at 8859 Richmond Highway from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Occasionally Cake will donate 50 percent of all their sales that day to Metropolitan School of the Arts youth scholarships of Lorton, Va. For more information, call (703) 647-9638 or visit www.occasionallycake.com.

The free cupcakes will be available in Chocolate Marshmallow, Red Velvet, Snickerdoodle, Funfetti and Strawberry Key Lime flavors with other flavors available for purchase. A variety of other flavors will be available for purchase. Occasionally Cake will offer an anniversary special of four cupcakes for $8.

Metropolitan Performing Arts Alliance raised $5,000 at their first Annual Benefit Concert to go toward construction of their new Alliance Theatre in Alexandria, Va. MFAC is working toward a fundraising goal of $100,000 to complete the theatre project. Visit www.metrofinearts.com for more information.

“We are so grateful to the community for helping our dance companies get closer to our goal of building the Alliance Theater,” said Melissa Dobbs, executive director of the Metropolitan Fine Arts Center in Alexandria, Va.